In The Loop Travel
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • The Americas
    • Caribbean
    • Mexico
    • Europe
    • Asia/Pacific
    • Africa
  • Fitness
  • Cruising
  • Travel Tips
  • Videos
  • Work With Us
  • My Work
  • About
  • Colorado Craft Brewery Guide
  • Media Kit
  • TBIN Influencer Network

An Un-Cruise Alaska Voyage Has to Be Experienced to Be Believed

6/8/2016

3 Comments

 
Un-Cruise Adventures Wilderness Explorer in Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord
On our first morning sailing with Un-Cruise Adventures in Alaska, we spotted a full rainbow in Tracy Arm Fjord.
By John Roberts 
For a guy who has done a lot of fun and outdoorsy stuff in his day, I was blown away by the activities offered by Un-Cruise Adventures during my cruise in southeastern Alaska.
 
 
This is the Big Leagues for active cruise excursions and fit travel options. Much of the fun we had on Wilderness Explorer during my voyage is owed to the fact that Alaska is a wilderness playground unlike any other. I also was very fortunate to have fantastic weather -- unseasonably dry and sunny -- when I cruised in early May.
 
The Un-Cruise experience places you on a purpose-built boat designed to get in close to remote areas of the Last Frontier so you can observe wildlife and get off the boat to play and explore in some of the most pristine places on earth. I cruised with about three dozen other passengers who also enjoy active pursuits, and the intimacy of the small boat and serene surroundings creates a quick bonding experience for travelers.
 
Un-Cruise uses expedition leaders on its ships, and they design the activities for the week. This is a flexible program that they refer to as "the plan from which to deviate" depending on weather conditions or other factors.  

Welcome to Alaska! 
I learned that almost all of my fellow passengers were experiencing Alaska for the first time on this cruise. And what a first day we had. After embarking from Juneau and settling in for the night in our cabins, we woke the next morning to see that we had arrived in Tracy Arm Fjord and the incredible sights of floating ice slipping past the ship as we worked our way deeper into the channel. Some of the chunks had seals and arctic terns perched on them. Looking up at the steep rock walls, we approached a cascading series of waterfalls. Closer, closer and closer the Capt. Clark Smithson brought the boat, until we could almost reach out and touch the falls from the viewing area on the bow of the Wilderness Explorer.
 
Then, just as we are pulling away from that scene, a mist begins to falls, bringing a full rainbow across the fjord. Cameras have been clicking now for more than an hour straight, and audible gasps and exclamations of wonder are heard "Can this get any better? Incredible!" 
And we're just getting started. Later, we changed course to go to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier because thick ice blocks our progress toward Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm. On the diverted route to Endicott, we spy a brown bear grazing at the water's edge, more bald eagles soaring overhead and gray whales swimming nearby. Eventually, the glacier is in sight, and we board skiffs to head a little closer. That's when the real show starts. The massive ice wall is still a quarter-mile away but we see clear icy chunks floating by our small boat, getting larger and larger. Also, we keep an eye on a dense blue spot surrounding a cave-like void in the glacier. Sure enough, it starts to give. 
 
The glacier sloughs off massive pieces of ice, and the giant segment shaped like a torpedo plunges into the water before launching back to the surface (a shooter). We have just seen an iceberg being born. Dawes Glacier becomes extremely active for the next 90 minutes -- with thunderous booms sounding that another chunk has landed in the fjord. This calving is an amazing thing to witness, especially up close. It continues even as we return to the Wilderness Explorer, which is now rocking from the wave action cause by the dropping ice chunks. No doubt about it: Nature put on a great show for Day 1 of our cruise in Alaska
.
Cascade Falls hike in Tongass Forest in Southeastern Alaska with Un-Cruise Adventures.
I encountered some of the most challenging hiking conditions on the Cascade Falls hike in Tongass National Forest.
Hiking to Cascade Falls in Tongass National Forest in Alaska
Into the Wild 
Dai Mar, our lead expedition guide, reveals the activity options for the following day's destination during a "Six O'Clock News" briefing in the ship's lounge, which also is home to the bar. These activities can range from easy to difficult. A shore walk, guided kayak tour or long hike or bushwacking tour. The more extreme or so-called "Hard Charger" activities appeal to me, and I get my fill during the week. Almost more than I bargained for. Again, I had come into this trip with the notion that a "difficult" excursion meant that it probably was hard for someone not accustomed to a regular level of physical activity.
 
 
I'll warn you now: If you choose an Un-Cruise Adventures voyage, understand that a hard activity will indeed be extremely challenging. 
 
Our first challenge was an epic hike in the Tongass Forest past Cascade Falls and up to Falls Lake. This, in fact, is the most difficult one I have ever done, and I have lived in Colorado and hiked there extensively. While the roundtrip journey is only about 4.5 miles, it gains 1,400 feet of elevation by mostly scrambling up primitive mud-filled paths covered by muskegs, tree roots and teetering or completely useless rotted stair-ladders that had been cut into fallen logs. This hike is something that those of us who completed it will talk about for a long time.
 
Snorkeling near Stephens Passage and Robert and Crow Islands in Alaska
This sunflower sea star was one of dozens of interesting creatures we found in the chilly waters at low tide.
Have you ever heard of snorkeling in Alaska? Yes, three of us took the plunge and snorkeled on our next activity day. While most others went on skiff tours and shore walks, Matt Payne, a fellow travel writer from Oklahoma, and Ken Fielding, an avid cyclist from California, and I yanked on 7mm wetsuits and spent our morning in 42-degree waters near Robert and Crow Islands off Stephens Passage. Our group had become well acquainted after that first hike. 

A skiff took us out to a kelp covered rock in the morning at low tide. Jumping into the waters was a shock at first, but the water that rushed into the wetsuits soon was warmed by our body heat and provided an insulated layer, allowing us to explore the creatures that live in such conditions for about 50 minutes before the icy waters started to win.
 
 
The waters were clear to about 15 feet deep, and they remained that way as long as we didn't kick too much. I didn't have to move a lot anyway, as marine life was on display everywhere as soon as I stuck my head under. Plumose anemones dominated the landscape, with their puffy white cotton tops. We also spotted a sculpin fish and dozens of crabs and sea cucumbers, as well as clams and sunflower sea stars (which can have as many as 20 arms). People thought we were a bit nuts to go in those near-freezing waters, but I loved how different this type of snorkeling is from what I typically experience the Caribbean.
 
Matt, Ken and I rushed to the hot tub once back on the ship. Two intense adventures in two days by the same trio. Dai Mar dubs us the Wilderness Explorer "extreme team." 

New days, new destinations, new challenges.  
It was hard to catch a breath as the busy days rolled by. I was sleeping very well, passing out soon after my weary body hit the mattress each night in my cabin. The fresh air, activity, tasty beers and delicious meals all aided my satisfying slumber. 
 
Un-Cruise arranges a slate of daily activities for people to get out and explore each new destinations. The excursions or options are designed to meet the needs of all levels of interests and desires for physical activity. Maybe you want to sit back and relax a bit. Try a skiff tour around bays, coves, islands and fjords. Or venture out on an easy shore walk. Feeling more motivated? Paddle along shorelines and open waters during a guided kayak tour. Open kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding in bays (you are required to stay within sight of the boat) are available at times during the trip. These are all cool ways to see wildlife and the stunning geology of the region.

I catch a little break during a Mill Creek morning, when I choose a guided kayak tour. Then, the boat heads to the town of Wrangell for the afternoon, and I go ashore to see the village and take a hike up Mount Dewey. This is on a well-maintained wooden boardwalk, and it's a steep but short hike to a scenic lookout over the town and harbor. I find a new beer to try in the hotel at the pier, an Alaskan Brewing Co. Icy Bay IPA. I am pleased.
 
Hiking past streaming falls in Alaska on the Bailey Bay hike
These streams were one of several obstacles and beautiful sights we passed on our hike to the hot springs.
Waterfalls overlook on the Bailey Bay hike to Lake Shelokum in Alaska
Bailey Bay Hot Springs in Alaska
This is just what I needed midway through another tough hike.
"Tomorrow, we'll have another Hard Charger option at Bailey Bay," Dai Mar announces at his briefing. Another expedition guide, Ellie, has given me a heads up not to miss this one. A hot springs is the payoff at the end of a long journey. I'm in, of course.
 
Again, it's just three passengers attacking this hike. Plus, five Wilderness Explorer staffers joining us, three guides and two crew members who are getting a little time off the boat to explore Alaska. I love that the company allows its worker -- most who seem to have a passion for fitness, adventure and nature -- to partake in these activities. You won't see that on major cruise ships. 

The Bailey Bay hike takes along another tricky path, heading up and down mostly tracing the edge of gorgeous Lake Shelokum, at times leaving a narrow sliver of trail to negotiate. We climb over large boulders and downed tree trunks, tiptoe through tree roots and slop through mud. A rustling of the trees startles and freezes the group for an instant. A bear?
 
 
A large goose blasts off from its perch in a leafy tree.  

From that moment on, Marika, one of our guides, seamlessly changes our hikers' warning call to "hey goose" from "hey bear" to alert any creatures on the trail ahead that we are approaching. I laugh.

When we reach a meadow and stream which opens up to a snow-capped mountain range with a waterfall flowing down in the distance, we have arrived at the hot springs and a picture-perfect portrait of Alaska. A hot tub constructed with rocks is ready to be filled through hoses laid alongside the flowing streams of steamy hot water that is coming down the mountainside. We eventually get the temperature just right and slide in for a soak after eating our lunches. 
We could stay here forever, but eventually start to head back to the ship. We make another stop for pictures on top of a large rock jutting out over a massive waterfall (just as we had on the way up) and also pass through those same three smaller streams and falls, cooling our tired feet and rinsing off the mud one last time before arriving back to shore, where our skiffs await to return us to the ship where we can tell everyone about another you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it Alaska adventure.

The cruise has one day left, and I get a final chance to push myself. 
 
Kayaking Misty Fjord National Monument in Alaska
Getting our game faces on before more challenging paddling ahead during our kayaking journey through Misty Fjord.
Our last stop is Misty Fjords, a national monument, and we are offered the chance to get dropped off the boat from the EZ dock platform at the back. Wilderness Explorer then heads into the channel, and we'll kayak "about five miles" to meet back up with it. Well, that can't be too bad, I think to myself. They even offer a "casual paddle" option, and a group signs on for that. That means the pace we are expected to keep is the only difference between the two groups.
 
Well, soon after we slide off the back of the vessel, I realize this going to be another grind. Waves are tossing us around, the wind is in our face and we are paddling against the tide that is rushing out of the fjord that morning. Matt and I know we are about to suffer. Especially Matt, who immediately regrets following my advice that we wouldn't need spray skirts. He also got the bad seat in our rig, with me up front and him taking most of the direct hits from the wave action and blasts of spray off my paddle on nearly every stroke. His cockpit start to fill with water, and the first 30 minutes are a struggle to make any forward progress.
 
 
We see a skiff already approaching the other side of the channel to rescue the casual paddle group. Their excursion is now a small boat tour of the fjord. We soldier on and make it to a protected cove to regroup. Riding closer to the granite slabs that rise as much as 2,000 feet and define the fjord, we start to make progress.
 
 
The boat appears in the distance. (Several prior bends and turns had left us disappointed when we edged around a rock to only find more open water ahead.) Now, we aim our kayak toward a cove on the other side, making it there first to wait for the rest of our group. I eat a couple slices of bacon I grabbed off the breakfast buffet that morning, knowing I would be happy for the fuel.
 
  
Ellie tells us to aim our kayak at a distant point on land and let the current take us to the boat. We finish strong -- after 2.5 hours of almost constant paddling covering eight miles. You read that right. We went eight miles to reach the boat, which had to keep going to find a place it could safely anchor all the way at the end of Misty Fjord. Matt and I quickly grab a beer, make our way to the hot tub and commiserate about the incredibly challenging week of activities that we have just conquered. 
Un-Cruise Adventures polar plunge in Alaska
Would you take the plunge? It's icy cold but also refreshing and one more bold way to cut loose in Alaska.
The Un-Cruise journeys conclude with one final chance to show your carefree wild side: the end-of-week Polar Plunge. I join a handful of passengers and even more crew members at the sports dock, and we take turns propelling ourselves into the icy waters. Dives, flips, cannonballs. We put on a good show, with some people plunging more than once (not me, thankyouverymuch!). It's a fitting and fun release to properly cap the most amazing week of thrills I have had yet in my travels.
---
A
s I write this, I notice several bug bites on my hands and arms, bruises, cuts and scrapes all over my feet and legs. My clothes are salt and mud stained as I send them through the laundry. These are the only souvenirs I brought back from my trip, and they will be washed away and fade over time. But what won't fade are my memories of this challenging and travel-affirming voyage of discovery. Or my desire to do it all again in Alaska as soon as possible. 
Thanks for coming along. 
Travel happy, 

JR
Subscribe today to get the latest reviews, tips and tricks to help you have your best adventure ever.

3 Comments
Cathy link
6/9/2016 01:59:41 pm

I love everything about this! Seems like a great way to see and adventure in Alaska!

Reply
JR
6/14/2016 04:49:07 pm

Yes, Cathy. It is spectacular. I loved every minute!

Reply
MARY MCDANIEL
6/10/2016 08:18:02 am

Wow! Sounds like the perfect adventure for you. Loved reading about it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    AIDA Cruises
    Alaska
    Albatros Expeditions
    Alicante
    AmaWaterways
    Amber Cove
    American Queen Steamboat Company
    American Queen Voyages
    Amsterdam
    Antarctica
    Antigua
    Arctic
    Arizona
    Aruba
    Asia
    Atlas Ocean Voyages
    Australia
    Austria
    Avalon Waterways
    Backroads
    Bahamas
    Barbados
    Barcelona
    Belize
    Blue World Voyages
    Bonaire
    Bora Bora
    Brooklyn
    Budapest
    Burma
    Cabo San Lucas
    Cadiz
    California
    Cambodia
    Cancun
    Caribbean
    Carnival Cruise
    Celebrity Cruises
    Celestyal Cruises
    Christmas Markets
    Cologne
    Colombia
    Colorado
    Corfu
    Costa Rica
    Cozumel
    Craft Beer
    Croatia
    Crystal Cruises
    Cuba
    Curacao
    Dominican Republic
    Dubrovnik
    Egypt
    Emerald Cruises
    Emerald Waterways
    Europe
    Expat Life
    Explora Journeys
    Fathom Travel
    Fitness
    Florida
    Fort Lauderdale
    France
    French Polynesia
    Galapagos
    Galveston
    Germany
    Grand Cayman
    Greece
    Grenada
    Guatemala
    Halifax
    Harmony Of The Seas
    Hawaii
    High Line Park
    Hiking
    Holland America
    Hong Kong
    Houston
    Hungary
    Ibiza
    Iceland
    Isla Mujeres
    Italy
    Jim Thorpe
    Key West
    Kotor
    Labadee
    Lake Minnewaska
    Las Vegas
    Lisbon
    Lithuania
    London
    London Eye
    Maine
    Malaga
    Mexico
    Miami
    Minnesota
    Mississippi River
    Monte Carlo
    Montenegro
    Monterey
    Montreal
    Moorea
    MSC Cruises
    MSC Divina
    Netherlands
    Newfoundland
    New Jersey
    New Orleans
    New York
    New York City
    New Zealand
    North Carolina
    Norway
    Norwegian Cruise Line
    Nuremberg
    Oceania Cruises
    Oregon
    Orlando
    Panama
    Panama Canal
    Passau
    Paul Gauguin
    Paul Gauguin Cruises
    Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia
    Pickleball
    Ponant
    Portugal
    Prague
    Princess Cruises
    Puerto-rico
    Queens
    Regensburg
    Regent Seven Seas
    Rome
    Royal Caribbean
    Saint-Tropez
    San Francisco
    Santorini
    Scenic Cruises
    Scottsdale
    Seabourn
    SeaDream Yacht Club
    Sicily
    Silversea
    Sintra
    Sorrento
    Spain
    Star Clippers
    St. Maarten
    St. Thomas
    Symphony Of The Seas
    Tahiti
    Travel Gear
    Travel Tips
    Tunisia
    Turkey
    Turks And Caicos
    UnCruise
    Un-Cruise Adventures
    UnCruise Adventures
    Universal's Islands Of Adventure
    Uniworld
    Utah
    Utica
    Utica Boilermaker 15K
    Vienna
    Vietnam
    Viking Cruises
    Washington
    Windstar Cruises
    Wisconsin

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2013 | All rights reserved | Ewing, New Jersey.
Contact | About | Media Kit